Jeremy Clarkson on Torrents

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Ceno

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I thought this article by JC was interesting and worth sharing with others.

I have replicated parts of the article here and have provided a link for those interested.

I?m so dead ? shot by both sides in the website war - Times Online

The fact is this. If something can be digitised, it can be stolen. You record a song, you sell one copy, it goes on the internet and it will be nicked. If you write a book, the same thing can happen. Newspapers, magazines, films, jokes, music: all of it can be, and is being, circulated for nothing, which means the person who wrote and prepared and slaved over the original product is not being paid. That?s not so bad if you are 10 and you?ve posted some mobile phone footage of your friend pulling funny faces on YouTube. But if you are running Paramount Pictures, it is very bad indeed.

I do not know how much it cost to make this year?s surprising hit comedy The Hangover, but it will have been several million dollars. None of that will have been recouped at the box office because the film stars no one you?ve ever heard of. But word of mouth means that some of the cash could be clawed back in DVD sales.

?Fraid not. Because this film is extremely popular with internet-savvy teenagers, it is being downloaded for nothing at an alarming rate. And, speaking as the host of the most illegally downloaded TV show in the world, I know how annoying this can be. It?s why I?ve explained to my kids that they can smoke, drink and push old ladies into boating lakes. But if they steal a song or a film, I will make them live in the chicken run for a year.

Anyway I thought this was interesting....
 
I think Clarksons little Rant doesn?t really help the Copyright-owners when he picks "the Hangover" as his example, one of the most succesfull pictures and surpirse Hit this year in the cinema.

35 Million Dollars Budget, 460 Million Dollars Gross. It took it?s costs in on the opening-weekend alone and has been generating huge profits up until now ... and all that before it?s out on DVD on Dec15th, just in time for christmas to find it?s way into Santas rucksack in huge numbers. I think it?s safe to say that this movie will have made Warner Bros. half a billion Dollars profit by the End of this year. Quite some cashback from a 35 Million Dollar investment in half a year - that?s the kind of revenue investment bankers can only dream of at night ...

"The Hangover" is perhaps the worst possible example Clarkson could picked to make his Point ... but then I?m maybe just one of these Internet-bullies ;)

numbers from boxofficemojo.com and imdb.com
 
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Like Clarkson said in the interview with Eric Bana, TG is available on TV pretty much everywhere except America. And it's also one of the most popular BBC shows from what I understand.

So people are both watching it legitimately AND downloading it. It goes to show they have a serious untapped source of income here in the states because they don't show new episodes. So our only way to get it is to download it.

Which brings up another question. If it's never offered or sold here to begin with, can we be really "stealing" it or obtaining it "illegally"?
 
"The Hangover" is perhaps the worst possible example Clarkson could picked to make his Point ... but then I?m maybe just one of these Internet-bullies ;)

I think picking the movie industry as a whole is a bad idea, here in Sweden the cinemas are breaking attendance record every year it seems..
 
Like Clarkson said in the interview with Eric Bana, TG is available on TV pretty much everywhere except America. And it's also one of the most popular BBC shows from what I understand.

So people are both watching it legitimately AND downloading it. It goes to show they have a serious untapped source of income here in the states because they don't show new episodes. So our only way to get it is to download it.

Which brings up another question. If it's never offered or sold here to begin with, can we be really "stealing" it or obtaining it "illegally"?

Oh, but it is, on BBC America, but in a highly cut-down and edited version. Thus, we are technically stealing... (How's that logic for ya?)
 
Top Gear is not available in Germany. I'd be happy to watch it on regular TV, but noone offers it. Same goes for every single foreign TV series (Austrian and Swiss excluded). They are not shown here, period. And yes, you can buy DVDs - but not without knowing that the content is good. The Internet is an opportunity to test if a series is good - meaning, a marketing instrument. If some content, be it TV, movie or music, is good, then people will buy it.
 
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Can TG as it is broadcasted on British TV be bought somewhere? If not then downloading is the only way to get this great show. If it is buyable I didn't come across it yet ;)

@DanRoM, I'm 99,567% you wouldn't watch it in German tv EVEN IF it was broadcasted......I'm tired of listening to translated shows that can be understood perfectly in their original language!
 
@DanRoM, I'm 99,567% you wouldn't watch it in German tv EVEN IF it was broadcasted......I'm tired of listening to translated shows that can be understood perfectly in their original language!
That's what I meant when I said no foreign TV shows and movies are shown here in Germany. They're all dubbed. While that's fine with me for, say, content from Scandinavia, my English is good enough to enjoy English content.
With today's technology, it shouldn't be a problem to broadcast both the original and the dubbed audio. In the past we had "two-channel-audio" for that - not anymore.
 
Like Clarkson said in the interview with Eric Bana, TG is available on TV pretty much everywhere except America. And it's also one of the most popular BBC shows from what I understand.

So people are both watching it legitimately AND downloading it. It goes to show they have a serious untapped source of income here in the states because they don't show new episodes. So our only way to get it is to download it.

Which brings up another question. If it's never offered or sold here to begin with, can we be really "stealing" it or obtaining it "illegally"?

It's also not available in DVD form. There are some on itunes, which I bought, but those are also edited so I bought them then deleted them and just watch the torrented ones.
 
Oh, but it is, on BBC America, but in a highly cut-down and edited version. Thus, we are technically stealing... (How's that logic for ya?)

However, not all of the Series have been broadcast on BBC America. Series 13, for example, has yet to be shown. And the earlier series (prior to 6, I want to say) have not been broadcast.

I bought the Series 10 DVD and I'll also buy the DVDs of Series 11 and 12, even if they are edited for content as Series 10 was, just so I can share the experience with friends. I have also bought the R2 DVDs released in the UK even though I have to go through some hoops to play them.

I have also purchased the iTunes Season Passes for Series 7, 10, 11 and 12. And should the BBC make Series 6 and 13 available on the US iTunes Store, I shall buy them, as well. I also pay about six times as much per year for BBC America via cable than a UK resident pays for BBC OTA via the license fee.

If the BBC released the series on DVD in the UK in as-broadcast form, I'd buy them and dump my torrents. But since they only seem to be releasing the show on DVD in the US, Canada and Australia which means, at best, the music is changed and, at worse, content is edited out, while I am buying them to support the show, it's not what I consider "archival quality" and therefore retain the torrent releases for viewing.
 
If Jeremy and the BBC were smart, they would open up a Top Gear store wherein people from around the world could purchase and download unedited Top Gear episodes. Problem solved.
 
If Jeremy and the BBC were smart, they would open up a Top Gear store wherein people from around the world could purchase and download unedited Top Gear episodes. Problem solved.

Soundtracks would had to be edited for copyright reasons, or they would need to buy global rights for every song. BBC can use any song with fixed cost with their national programs as far as I know. Would water down it a lot.

Copyright laws have fallen behind times. It's next to impossible for anyone to start a proper internet TV with the regional restrictions that get forced and the mess copyrights are. Internet is all about international access without borders and the old ways from the times of TV don't work anymore.

Clarkson is probably only upset because his own DVD is being pirated and nobody is buying the same childish blowing up & powersliding film he craps out every year for Christmas. :rolleyes:
 
^ Indeed. It sucks for us US residents who either have to torrent the show or wait a long while for BBC America to show us heavily-edited and commercialed episodes which aren't half as good as the full ones.
 
Soundtracks would had to be edited for copyright reasons, or they would need to buy global rights for every song. BBC can use any song with fixed cost with their national programs as far as I know. Would water down it a lot.

Copyright laws have fallen behind times. It's next to impossible for anyone to start a proper internet TV with the regional restrictions that get forced and the mess copyrights are. Internet is all about international access without borders and the old ways from the times of TV don't work anymore.

Clarkson is probably only upset because his own DVD is being pirated and nobody is buying the same childish blowing up & powersliding film he craps out every year for Christmas. :rolleyes:

It strikes me that given the amount of money that the Beeb makes off of Top Gear, getting a global blanket license shouldn't be too particularly hard or expensive, especially considering the market they would open up. Even at iTunes pricing of $2 per episode, that would add up quickly. Perhaps even with a "music provided by" bump at the end of the credits.

Failing that, they could just secure US copyrights and sell direct to us here. I know that I would stop torrenting the show if I was able to purchase it in the original form at comparable resolutions. As it is, I still buy copies of the edited iTunes versions.
 
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Well clarkson, get on the phone to Australia and tell them to stop showing gimped versions with crappy generic soundtracks :p
 
One of the things I look forward to each episode apart from the entertainment and cinematography is the music choices for the segments. Seriously, the people in charge of the pieces chosen are brilliant and, IMO, overlooked.

Having that subbed with the generic muzak for anything but the original broadcast kills it for me. So I'll always download unless I can get, like someone said, an as-broadcast show.
 
Well clarkson, get on the phone to Australia and tell them to stop showing gimped versions with crappy generic soundtracks :p

+1

I'd happily watch it on the box if:
A) It wasn't a half aborted mess and
B) it didn't take forever for them to release the eps over here.

Granted that B) isn't fully up to the BBC, but it is mostly.

I'd happily pay $2 per ep on itunes for a shiny (HD?) version of top gear each week. Hell, I'd probably pay a little extra for the HD version.

Having said all that, we are a community that enjoys this show so much that we've MADE a community that we can all discuss this. The other 40,000 people who torrent the show probably wouldn't pay $2. Still, around 6000 active members who, assuming, would pay for the episode equals a nice profit.
 
My respect for Clarkson has fallen somewhat...

While it is true that there are occasional international releases, they have been cut down and edited massively (stripping out 2/3rds of the show is NOT a good idea) for the BBC World release (and even then its at ridiculous times). The only way for me to get the TG DVDs is to buy the pirated versions on the street. which IMO is worse than downloading as someone is profiting for the work of someone else rather than just obtaining a copy for personal enjoyment...

If anyone wants to know, I live in .mu, where you CANNOT lay your hands on original copies of TopGear no matter how hard you try...
 
To be frank, I think a large reason as to why the show is as popular as it is in the States (not that it's hugely popular, but it's still fairly well known) is due to FinalGear. Yes, a lot of people randomly find it on BBCA and go "what's this?", but then they find FinalGear and become really hooked.

I think this site does more good than harm to the show and the BBC's sales of DVDs (I hope), shirts, etc.

I run this site out of love for the show and to promote it, not to rip them off.
 
If Top Gear or Jeremy's DVD's cost something to me, I wouldn't watch them.
 
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